Wonderfilled

June 16, 2013 10:20 AM

Oreo Wonderfilled Anthem. And during which show did The Martin Agency decide to roll out its new, optimistic, and wonder filled (yes I know) Oreo ad campaign? Why, during the sometimes dark and always cynical show Mad Men, of course.

Adam Young of Owl City created the soundtrack.

posted by TrolleyOffTheTracks (34 comments total)

For those familiar with MM, this seems like an ad Michael Ginsberg might have created.
posted by TrolleyOffTheTracks at 10:22 AM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

As soon as the music started playing, I thought to myself "That sounds like Owl City..."
posted by Lokheed at 10:34 AM on June 16, 2013

I'm growing increasingly fond of Owl City. Yeah, the music is pretty simplistic, but it has layers which stand up to repeat listening. And the lyrics seem nearly childlike at first, but there is wordplay happening which remains hidden until you've heard a song a few times.

I don't think OC will ever be one of my big time favorite groups, but I'm glad I have them on my iPod.

And yeah, this commercial is really cute and fun.
posted by hippybear at 10:37 AM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've come to recognize that over a while now I've been kind of unconsciously undergoing a process of advertising detox.

As a result, I've been gradually losing patience with commercials, of all sorts, but especially when their overt message contrasts noticeably with the underlying message of all commercials, that is, "You should exchange money for our product." That's the case here, where the language in the commercial is all about giving, even though Nabisco would naturally be loathe to give out things.

Am I overthinking this? Yes.
posted by JHarris at 10:40 AM on June 16, 2013 [5 favorites]

I'm a bit perplexed by these new Oreo ads. For years now, every time I've seen an Oreo commercial --- one that actually showed an Oreo --- I've thought "Oooooh, yeah, I could go for an Oreo!" There's something about seeing the familiar shape and texture, seeing an actor pick up a cookie and dunk it in milk, that conjures up the cookie itself for me so distinctly that I can actually smell it. (I can smell Oreos right now, just thinking about the texture and appearance of the cookies.)

And I'm confident that this sense memory, conveyed through boring unmemorable ads of actors dunking and crunching Oreos, has contributed to my not-inconsequential Oreo-purchasing habit over the years. I don't often buy cookies, but when I do, they're usually Oreos.

But these commercials, with the cartoon monsters and sketch-outline figures and illustrated Oreos? Nothing. It conjures up nothing for me, it doesn't make me want Oreos, it doesn't make me want cookies, it doesn't make me want anything. Am I alone in this?
posted by Elsa at 10:57 AM on June 16, 2013 [5 favorites]

I was thinking that too, Elsa, that this commercial makes me want to . . . watch Adventure Time or read a picture book but not so much eat an oreo at all.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 11:00 AM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Properly befitting Father's Day, Mrs. 1367 and I (being parents to 2 year old 1367-ette) have been enjoying the heck out of this installment of the series.
posted by 1367 at 11:01 AM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Adam Young of Owl City created the soundtrack.

I was thinking "this sounds like a deliberate pastiche of something on the the Death Cab / Postal Service continuum", so yeah, I guess that makes sense.
posted by brennen at 11:16 AM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Like most everyone else I find commercials annoying at best. However, I like this one. But yeah, you see a commercial you think was clever or funny and by the time it's over you have no idea what they were selling. You remember the cleverness or the humor, but not the product. It's an ever growing trend.

I saw the Oreo commercial during MM and it was rather jarring, not in a bad way. It caught my attention. But I wondered if it really helped sell oreos.
posted by TrolleyOffTheTracks at 11:17 AM on June 16, 2013

JHarris, for me that process began many years ago. It's amazing what you start noticing once you quit drinking the, er, Flavored Drink Mix - the same goes, in fact, for cutting back on consuming "news", as has been discussed on Metafilter recently. I can't tell you how much happier I am with an improved signal/noise ratio in my life. I wholly support your efforts!
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:21 AM on June 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

Pepsi brown?
posted by Cranberry at 11:22 AM on June 16, 2013

'cause creme does wondrous things inside a chocolate sandwich dream!
posted by Saxon Kane at 11:35 AM on June 16, 2013

I don't often buy cookies, but when I do, they're usually Oreos.

You are The Most Interesting Monster in the World!
posted by spitbull at 11:37 AM on June 16, 2013 [4 favorites]

The graphics are imaginative and the idea is upbeat and clever, but my favorite thing about the 2 spots linked above are the fact that we actually get to hear the bridge of the song! So often ads just strip the hook or a couple of lines from a famous tune, as if the rest of it was worthless. I love bridges - they can really enhance the effect of the overall song, which is what happens here, I think. Basically, it's the opposite of a jingle.
posted by Cheezitsofcool at 11:39 AM on June 16, 2013

I love bridges - they can really enhance the effect of the overall song

I can't remember who said it or where I read it, but some songwriter said something to the effect of "the bridge is the hint that the song might become something more". That has stuck with me for years.

And yes, I love a good bridge in a song.
posted by hippybear at 11:42 AM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

That commercial, and especially its obnoxiously over-cheery and autotuned-to-death soundtrack, makes me want to do a murder. I'm barely kidding. And it goes on fucking forever. It's a perfect example of why, when I watch TV on TV, it's usually a recording I can fast-forward through.

Incidentally, the answer to the question it poses over and over and goddamned over is No.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:01 PM on June 16, 2013 [4 favorites]

Looks like someone at nabisco saw this and liked it enough to demand a lesser imitation.
posted by seymourScagnetti at 12:15 PM on June 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

And, really, it's kinda generic. You could plunk just about any product in where the Oreo is.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:17 PM on June 16, 2013 [2 favorites]

The commercial is delightful. More importantly, it held my attention all the way through (a rare thing among commercials), getting the point across in a was that was entertaining, cute and upbeat. I'd be tickled if all ads were as good. The'd easily overshadow many of the shows they support.
posted by 2N2222 at 12:19 PM on June 16, 2013

And, really, it's kinda generic. You could plunk just about any product in where the Oreo is.

Wonder if I gave the big bad wolf...A NEW CAR!
posted by device55 at 12:25 PM on June 16, 2013

Hey, we even got MetaFilter to talk about our ad! and the snark-to-praise ratio is amazingly low! (high five all around)
posted by willF at 12:28 PM on June 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

Oreos are one of those ongoing mysteries to me. It's a bit like the whole Vegemite/Marmite thing to people not raised in cultures which eat them, except that instead of being a strange and unfamiliar taste it's so obviously a dirt-cheap cruddy simulacrum of something nicer. I mean a chocolate cookie with a sweet, creamy filling? Fuck yeah, of course! Wait, why are you handing me two pieces of brown-dyed, gritty, vaguely "chok-o-layte" flavored pasteboard with this nasty chemical byproduct in between them?

And yet generations of children having been raised on them they're actually regarded as a premium brand, "accept no substitute" item. It's as if Europe had stayed with ersatz coffee after WWII having got so used to the flavor they'd come to prefer it to the real thing.
posted by yoink at 12:40 PM on June 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

I tire of this stunted-growth twee aesthetic that is going on ten years now consisting of nursery rhyme-grade ditties comprised of ukes, tiny guitars, brushed drums, glockenspiel, and toy piano exemplified by Owl City, Of Men And Monsters and their ilk accompanied by childlike back-of-notebook-pencil-drawing doodles.

I just want to hand them a Boss DS-1 to use, but in the Muppet Babies Playroom filter their minds seem to be trapped in they'd probably just view it as an oversize Lego.
posted by sourwookie at 12:49 PM on June 16, 2013 [5 favorites]

And yet generations of children having been raised on them they're actually regarded as a premium brand, "accept no substitute" item. It's as if Europe had stayed with ersatz coffee after WWII having got so used to the flavor they'd come to prefer it to the real thing.

I think it actually is like that, in the same way that Spam is both a familiar food and a treat* in some places. Oreos are vastly unlike what I think of when I think "cookie," because I'm thinking of something homemade, something buttery and inexactly shaped and probably still warm from the oven.

I suspect that's why Oreos are exactly what I want if I'm buying a cookie from a store. They're nothing like homemade, and they trumpet that fact with their elaborate stamped-out design and their utter uniformity. I've made homemade chocolate wafers and filled them with creamy frosting, and WHOA they were delicious. Much more delicious than Oreos! But also a completely different thing.

In my case, I'm not sure how much nostalgia is a factor, because we didn't even have Oreos when I was growing up. My mom preferred Hydrox, so on the rare occasions when she bought grocery-store cookies, that's what she bought.

Anyhow, what I'm saying is that these new ads made me realize how very well the old ads worked on me: stealthily, silently, unmemorably. I would just-barely-see the commercial and it would trigger a sense memory of eating Oreos while the commercial itself faded away from my conscious mind. It's a bit eerie to consider in hindsight.

*Not a Treet, though. Ahahahahahaha, I crack myself up.
posted by Elsa at 1:02 PM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Wonder no longer. If you played that awful soundtrack to a real monster, he'd rip your spine out through your neck.
posted by Scram at 2:13 PM on June 16, 2013

I generally hate commercials, but I've also appreciate some commercials as pure entertainment. This one succeeds on that level in that I don't feel like I want that 90 seconds back.
posted by hwestiii at 2:23 PM on June 16, 2013

Answering the Oreo questions:
1. Wolf: Oreos contain about 20.3 mg/gram of Theobromine which is toxic to wolves - this is unlikely to be a harmful dose of toxin but he would probably prefer a lamb carcass next time.
2. Vampire: Transylvanians - particularly immortal ones - appreciate higher quality snacks. Perhaps these Romanian Cookies - but swap out the vanilla extract for blood.
3. Great White Shark: They like to snack on their siblings in utero so will probably have few qualms about Oreos. But maybe these shark cup cakes would go down a little better.
posted by rongorongo at 2:28 PM on June 16, 2013 [2 favorites]

The best part of the commercial was at the end, when the cookies slid apart to reveal a smile. That was a nice touch.
posted by Alt F4 at 2:51 PM on June 16, 2013

I still like this Oreo ad better.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:55 PM on June 16, 2013

rongorongo: "Oreos contain about 20.3 mg/gram of Theobromine which is toxic to wolves"

There goes my business plan.
posted by krinklyfig at 4:44 PM on June 16, 2013

My impression of this Oreo campaign is that it has more to do with advertising to advertisers - positioning Martin or the creative team as People You Want to Hire - than it does with actually selling Oreos to consumers. They did one of those lame Super Bowl gimmick things on Twitter that no one but Ad Age ever notices, and they were all. over. SxSW.

Hope Nabisco's cool with them spending money to promote themselves!
posted by downing street memo at 5:04 PM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

I really can not stand this sappy commercial. Seeing it here on metafilter makes me upset towards it even more.
posted by Our Ship Of The Imagination! at 5:20 PM on June 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Looks like someone at nabisco saw this and liked it enough to demand a lesser imitation.

I thought the same thing.

I tire of this stunted-growth twee aesthetic that is going on ten years now consisting of nursery rhyme-grade ditties comprised of ukes, tiny guitars, brushed drums, glockenspiel, and toy piano exemplified by Owl City, Of Men And Monsters and their ilk accompanied by childlike back-of-notebook-pencil-drawing doodles.

I don't mind it, but this is a bad example of it, and can't hold a candle to real twee like Belle & Sebastian and Candle Records stuff.

And this is not even the best song about a cookie.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 7:32 PM on June 16, 2013

I tire of this stunted-growth twee aesthetic that is going on ten years now consisting of nursery rhyme-grade ditties comprised of ukes, tiny guitars, brushed drums, glockenspiel, and toy piano exemplified by Owl City, Of Men And Monsters and their ilk accompanied by childlike back-of-notebook-pencil-drawing doodles.

I like this. This is what I wanted to say.
posted by Our Ship Of The Imagination! at 2:08 PM on June 17, 2013